Holes 10-18 of WW Rolling Oaks now up : my recent trip to Brooksville, FL

[Joe Bausch]

Here is the back nine at the Dunes at Seville:

#10:  short par 4 (346 yards) with a split fairway.







#11:  the only hole with water really in play, a par 4 (452 yards).







#12:  this par 4 played into the wind and was a brute (416 yards).







#13:  downhill par 3 (192 yards).





#14:  par 4 (426 yards).







#15:  long dogleg left par 4 (457 yards) to an elevated green.







#16:  par 3 with a very deep green (208 yards).







#17:  reachable in two par 5 with a Biarritz-inspired green (531 yards).







#18:  curiously, the Dunes finishes with back to back par 5's, this one running uphill and 520 yards.







Ok, in the coming days I'll post some pics of both WW Pine Barrens and WW Rolling Oaks.

[Tony Weiler]

Joe, cool pics.  How did you group compare Brooksville CC with the Dunes? 

[Joe Bausch]

Joe, cool pics.  How did you group compare Brooksville CC with the Dunes? 

The better golfers in the group liked both courses, perhaps giving the Dunes a slight edge overall.

My bogey golfers really liked BCC, and didn't care much for the Dunes.  In fact, one of my experienced buds came off the course at the Dunes and greeted my foursome eating lunch with a frown, followed by:  "The Dunes should pay us 50 bucks to play this friggin' course!"

[Mike Hendren]

7 out of our group of 8 last year preferred the Dunes to Pine Barrens.  While I was the lone dissenter, I like the Dunes quite a bit for these reasons:  1) Great driving course due to abundant width and angled fairways;  2) Excellent use of elevation changes, particularly for Florida; 3) firmness accomodates the ground game; and 4) affordability. 

Mike

[Michael Dugger]

Best looking course I've ever seen come out of the Hills camp...

[Bill_McBride]

7 out of our group of 8 last year preferred the Dunes to Pine Barrens.  While I was the lone dissenter, I like the Dunes quite a bit for these reasons:  1) Great driving course due to abundant width and angled fairways;  2) Excellent use of elevation changes, particularly for Florida; 3) firmness accomodates the ground game; and 4) affordability. 

Mike

Mike, I agree the fairways are in some cases wide (but that's well hidden in some cases) and angled.  But those huge waste areas were like magnets.  Other than Lou Duran, who I don't think missed a fairway, I recall the rest of us spending more time in the sand than Lawrence of Arabia.

[Anthony Gray]

  The quarry holes look awesome. Was a little sleepy at first.

  Anthony

[Ben Kodadek]

I've only played the Dunes once and it was in the late spring, just into the rainy season.  My recollection was that the waste areas were fairly easy to get out of.  The sand was packed quite firmly and it didn't seem that penal to me.  

Not the case?

[PThomas]

Dunes looks pretty good...new owner?  wasnt the course quite poorly maintained not long ago?

[Jim_Kennedy]

Joe,
Definitely more sand, and the split fairway on #10 wasn't there the last time I played.

Thanks again for the pix.

[Joe Bausch]

Dunes looks pretty good...new owner?  wasnt the course quite poorly maintained not long ago?

Paul, I do think the Dunes has a relatively new owner.  I thought I heard someone bought it towards the high of the real estate market a few years back for a large sum of money.

[Carl Nichols]

Joe:
Have you ever played Mystic Dunes, near Orlando, which I think was designed by Gary Koch?  A few of the Dunes Golf holes look like some of the holes on the front nine at Mystic Dunes, only better.

[Joe Bausch]

Joe:
Have you ever played Mystic Dunes, near Orlando, which I think was designed by Gary Koch?  A few of the Dunes Golf holes look like some of the holes on the front nine at Mystic Dunes, only better.

Carl, my experience for golf in Orlando is very limited.  Basically Southern Dunes and Lake Nona (and some other course south of the city that I can barely remember it was oh so memorable!).

[Dub_ONeill]

My recollection is that the site for this course was bombed as much as quarried.  It was a practice bomb range during WWII where dummy bombs were dropped.  The old craters used to be visible around the property, at least before the recent renovation.

[Joe Bausch]

My recollection is that the site for this course was bombed as much as quarried.  It was a practice bomb range during WWII where dummy bombs were dropped.  The old craters used to be visible around the property, at least before the recent renovation.

Are you referring to Brooksville CC or the Dunes Golf Club at Seville?

[Adam Clayman]

Joe, That's the history of the Dunes at Seville. As you drive in to the property you can see some of the old bomb craters.

I thought the recent changes to The Dunes course were extensive.

If any one knows both iterations, please start a new thread on it?

I only played there once and it was a shotgun start in the rain. The one change I am familiar with is on the par 3 13th. The one with the bathroom in the distance. The old green use to be right n line with the bathroom and ran away from the golfer. It was one of the best holes with the worst views. Now it's not as a good a hole but the visual is somewhat better.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Adam,
They should have moved the bathroom, instead they moved the green to where many a shot landed in the past.

They added quite a few waste areas off the tee, there seems to be a new one in every photo. All the sand on the left of 8 and 9 is mostly new, as is the sand behind 18.  The 'split' fwy on 10 is also new.

[Michael Taylor]

Those quarry holes look amazing. What was your favorite out of them? Also can you comment on the 18th hole?

And what do you think of the 6th green of the Dunes Club?

Pup

[Joe Bausch]

Those quarry holes look amazing. What was your favorite out of them? Also can you comment on the 18th hole?

And what do you think of the 6th green of the Dunes Club?

Pup

Pup, those quarry holes are pretty neat.  I would not want an entire course like that, but I believe it works at BCC.  Except for that par 3 17th.  Trying to decide my favorite of the other three is difficult.  I liked them all very much, but I guess right now I lean a bit toward the par 3 14th.

I'd like to play the par 5 18th hole a few more times to see if my opinion changes for the better.  It feels a bit 'forced'.

The 6th green at the Dunes?  Well, I seem to recall there isn't a flat part on it!  The day I played it we were told they did not mow the greens that morning yet they were rolling pretty good anyways (I would guesstimate about a 9).  That green would be one of many at the Dunes that I would not want to play if they were rolling in double digits.

[Joe Bausch]

Ok, now it is time to present some pics of the Pine Barrens.  Some of these are from a couple of weeks ago, others from a couple of years ago.  I'll present them three holes at a time, as I think there might be some discussion generated.

Here is what I think is a wonderful routing:



#1:  fairly straightforward par 4 (406 yards from the tips) where the large FW bunker jutting out to the left is the primary feature.









#2:  a slight dogleg left par 4 (453 yards) to a bunkerless, large green that cants hard to the left:









#3:  a short par 3 with water in play (157 yards) to a two-tiered green.  Back left on the green a ball can roll right into the hazard.

[jonathan_becker]

Joe,

Thanks for the photos.  I played 54 at WW over this past Thanksgiving for the first time. 

#1 tee did a good job of messing with my depth perception.  Until I looked at the yardage book, I figured the bunker on the left was easily in play.  However, upon seeing that it was 306 to carry it into a stiff breeze, I rested easy.  This a great opening hole.

[Joe Bausch]

Here are some pics of holes 4-9 at WW Pine Barrens.  Most golfers playing WW for the first time really love the look of the 4th hole.

#4:  a fairly short par 5 (494 yards from the tips) that I still find to be a very fun hole.  The shorter hitters will play it left, the longer hitters play the drive right and really it become a nice tough par 4.











#5:  slight dogleg left par 4 (383 yards) with a small, narrow green.








#6:  pretty much straight-away par 5 (532 yards) where the bigger hitters will play left in the FW to get home in two.







#7:  par 3 (207 yards) with a big, deep green.







#8:  neat par 4 with a smallish green where if the pin is right, be careful!







#9:  the front nine closes with a difficult par 4 (424) that plays as a slight dogleg right with a right to left canted FW.

[Joe Bausch]

Okay, I guess everyone has played WW PB and loves it!  Hard to believe nobody taking potshots at a TFaz course.  

Here is the back nine.

#10:  par 3 (191 yards)







#11:  par 4 (403 yards)







#12:  par 4 with two greens (470 yards); the straight-ahead green I've only seen in play once in my probably 12 times of playing there; the green to the right is elevated and the big bunker in front is one of the harder I've ever seen to get out of!











#13:  par 4 (429 yards)









#14:  another wonderful par 5 at WW, this one playing 547 yards.













#15:  some don't like this drivable par 4 (330 yards; 292 from the regular tees) b/c the shorter golfer must play the FW to the left which leaves a very difficult shot to the green.











#16:  slightly uphill par 3 (224 from the tips; 176 regular tees)







#17:  par 4 (404 yards)







#18:  dogleg left par 4 (446 yards).







Enjoy!

[Ben Kodadek]

Joe,

Thanks for the pics.  PB looks to be in very nice shape particularily with the winter we've had down here.  How were the greens?

Also, do you view 18 to be a weak hole?  I've always thought that it is a terrible finish to an otherwise superb layout.  One either gets hung up in the "junk" on the left if they try to cut too much off or ends up punching out from the right, when they drive it through the fairway.

[Joe Bausch]

Joe,

Thanks for the pics.  PB looks to be in very nice shape particularily with the winter we've had down here.  How were the greens?

Also, do you view 18 to be a weak hole?  I've always thought that it is a terrible finish to an otherwise superb layout.  One either gets hung up in the "junk" on the left if they try to cut too much off or ends up punching out from the right, when they drive it through the fairway.

Ben, the greens at PB were quite good.  Especially in comparison with RO, which were average in places at best.

I find the 18th at WW PB to be a bit of a letdown after a wonderful stretch of holes before it.  I love 14-17, and think 18 is good, but no more than that.  Awfully tight past the wide area at the elbow.

Joe
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